


Red Wolf

by SilverRowan_Ivy630951



Series: Wolves in the World [1]
Category: Black Panther (2018), Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Awesome Shuri (Marvel), Awesome Wakandans, Blood Drinking, Both Steve and Bucky fall from the train, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Canon-Typical Violence, Genius Shuri (Marvel), Getting up to speed with the new century then plot, Less about blood or vampires and more about what happens after, M/M, Mind Control, Not Canon Compliant, POV Multiple, Red Wolf Steve Rogers, Scientist Shuri (Marvel), Sort Of, Still talks about, Unreliable POV, Vampire AU, White Wolf Bucky Barnes, and
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:53:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 20,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25724668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverRowan_Ivy630951/pseuds/SilverRowan_Ivy630951
Summary: Both Steve and Bucky live by rules they'd long ago decided on. They were changed in ways they did not ask for. They fell from a train and were captured by HYDRA. Then, after escaping, they had to figure out how to live.But what happens when they discover that, after so many decades, people are looking for them?Parts 1 & 2 of the series are finished. Part 3 is not but I decided to start posting this anyway.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Wolves in the World [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1865923
Comments: 60
Kudos: 99





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Red (White & Blue)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4450562) by [counteragent](https://archiveofourown.org/users/counteragent/pseuds/counteragent). 



Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes had very strict rules that they lived each day by.

Keep themselves to themselves. Never harm an innocent or each other. Never keep secrets from the other no matter how terrible. Never reveal their secrets to others. Never kill unless it was absolutely necessary. But if they did have to, they were to make sure it was in a way that would never lead back to them. Move if people started getting suspicious of them or at the ten year mark, whichever came first. Never trust anyone but each other. Live peacefully as possible but never get sloppy, never relax. And never lose sight of what they were.

They had more rules, of course. Living together for near to their entire lives meant that they’d had to find ways to do so, even on their worst days. And there had been some pretty bad ones.

It had been a long time, but Bucky still had occasional nightmares about his unit being captured in Italy and his time being held prisoner and experimented on in Austria during WWII. What they’d termed a ‘Bad Day’ usually followed. And Steve still had nightmares and Bad Days because of what he’d been forced to do since he’d been irrevocably changed in _Project: Rebirth_ in 1943.

Yes, he’d been healed of all his illnesses and birth defects, from his colorblindness to his curved spine. And he would never get sick again. His injuries healed quickly if he did what needed to be done, but the things he needed to do still made him sick sometimes.

They had their rules because neither of them were what others would consider normal. Steve had never been normal, what with being small and sick all the time. But he’d become even less so since he’d been chosen by Dr. Erskine for _Project: Rebirth_. And Bucky… Even if they hadn’t known it at the time, Bucky had left normal behind when he’d been captured and experimented on by Nazis.

For all intents and purposes, they were now something out of the pulps: vampires. They had the added bonus—or curse—of being able to influence people with their minds. Their bodies weren’t dead, of course, but, with Erskine’s supersoldier serum and Nazi experimentation respectively, science had made them both blood drinkers.

Bucky didn’t _need_ to drink blood. But Steve absolutely did. At least, he did if he wanted to remain alive and in his right mind.

There had been an antidote for the hunger, once upon a time. A few drops taken once every three days. But the only bottle had been destroyed when Steve had rescued Bucky and the rest of the prisoners from the HYDRA weapons facility. All knowledge of its creation—and any hope of making more—had died with Dr. Erskine the day Steve had been changed.

It had been on the long trek back to base after rescuing the 107th from Azzano that they’d truly learned how Steve would be forced to survive from then on. Steve had almost died. And then he’d almost killed Bucky.

They didn’t find out that Bucky was like Steve until they and an enemy soldier fell from a train high up in the Alps two years later in 1945.

Hoping to heal, Steve had drained the dead soldier’s still-warm blood. Then he’d searched the snowy landscape for his best friend and lover. By the time Steve had found him, Bucky was weak and dazed. His left arm was missing, most of it ripped off in the fall. His belt was wound tightly around the remaining stump, acting as a tourniquet.

It was only after taking in the awful sight of the man he loved that that Steve saw the tell-tale fangs nearly hidden behind his barely open lips. Steve immediately knelt down and offered his wrist. It hadn’t even been a question. Steve had some broken bones and possibly some internal injuries, but Bucky was bleeding out and would soon die.

By the time HYDRA found them, they had both been delirious and weak, all but passed out near-frozen in a snow bank. They each were shot in the neck with some sort of liquid-filled syringe and dragged in.

They’d lucked out, though. For the first length of time they were held, HYDRA seemed more interested in healing them than hurting them. In one of his few lucid moments at the beginning, Steve heard some of the scientists being told to make them healthy enough to survive experimentation, torture, and brainwashing. They were to become the Fists of HYDRA.

He took that to mean Slaves of HYDRA.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to wait until next week to post this but I just decided to do it now. Enjoy!

Steve woke up to find himself strapped to a cold metal table and hooked up to some kind of fluid drip. Not giving away that he was awake, he watched through his eyelashes as Bucky was wheeled in strapped to an identical table.

Within a minute of being in the same room, Steve discovered that Bucky was like him in more ways than just the blood drinking.

They could communicate mentally.

So, silently, they planned.

Steve wasn’t too desperate for blood at that moment so he could think fairly clearly. He shared the few facts he knew with Bucky, including everything he remembered overhearing.

As things stood, he was slowly healing from his broken leg and arm and possibly a few broken ribs and a cracked sternum. And, as much as he still hated it, even after two years, feeding would easily take care of all those injuries. Also, he hadn’t been adequately restrained to the table. He could fight.

Playing unconscious like Steve, Bucky told him that they’d surgically removed the rest of his stump and attached some kind of metal shoulder and arm in its place. He thought that they’d maybe replaced a couple of ribs and his collarbone, too. He said it didn’t actively hurt beyond everything slowly healing so he was ready to move when Steve was.

They waited most of another day, hoping to attack at night so it would be less busy. It would also give them both a little more time to heal.

_Now!_ Steve mentally shouted when the time came. They broke their straps and put down all four scientists and doctors in the room in seconds. It was swift, efficient, and brutal. They knew everyone there was with HYDRA so they showed no mercy.

After the attack, Bucky stood guard while Steve drank, watching the door and using his body to block the view from any possible cameras.

Bucky mentally whispered to Steve. _Only take enough blood to not be suspicious if they’re found._ One of the last things they needed was for the enemy to figure out they were both blood drinkers.

Again, on Bucky’s suggestion, when Steve was finished, he covered up the puncture wounds by slashing each neck with a surgical knife they’d found next to the table Bucky’s had been strapped to. After that, they swapped places for Bucky’s turn.

They quietly went room to room killing all the HYDRA Nazis and drinking a little from each until they were entirely healed and completely full.

They came to the last room in the small base and discovered it empty of people but chock full of winter gear, weapons of every imaginable kind, and HYDRA armor.

They’d checked every nook and cranny in the place and destroyed the server room, so they no longer had to worry about cameras or enemies sneaking up on them. They split up to look around the room.

Steve guessed by the amount of winter gear that they were still in the Alps, or at least someplace cold, so they layered up with long underwear, HYDRA battle suits, and the winter gear.

He thought that, despite the armor being HYDRA-issue and ugly to boot, Bucky somehow made it all look pretty damn sexy. He took the opportunity to pull him close and nip at his lips in a biting kiss before they got back to business.

Bucky found a bunch of sturdy packs in a footlocker off to the side and they shoved them full of weapons. Steve added two thinner coats to cover everything. _In case we aren’t still in the Alps_ , he said when Bucky raised an eyebrow. They then added two more sets of armor—again, just in case.

After that, they strapped as many guns, knives, and explosives to their bodies as they could.

_It sure would be handy if your shield was here._

Steve glanced over at Bucky before going back to what he was doing. _Either air from the hole in the train blew it out and it’s lost, HYDRA’s got it somewhere, or Jones finished the mission and took it back to base with him. Whatever the case, it’s not here and there’s no point wishing for it._

All they could do now was be as practical and coolheaded as they could.

Before they left, they paused in front of the wall of helmets and masks, separated into three groups.

There were bulky looking helmets that covered everything from the back of the skull to the jaw, leaving only a hole for the mouth and tip of the nose. They immediately skipped those because they reminded Bucky too much of his time as a prisoner in Azzano.

In the middle were full-face masks. They covered everything from hairline to jaw and were held on by thick straps that went around the ears. They looked uncomfortable. Steve and Bucky skipped those, too.

On the right were half-masks that covered only the nose and lower half of the face. They also gave a bit of protection to the upper part of the neck and could be paired with the sets of goggles that hung on the wall nearby. There were no straps on those at all.

The full- and half-face masks appeared to double as gas masks, as well.

Bucky and Steve looked to each other and then reached for the half-masks and goggles.

For no reason other than a vague feeling, they each took two sets.

_We should find some food before we go_ , Steve said.

While they were both blood drinkers now, he wasn’t sure if either of them could survive on blood alone. They still ate food and drank water, even if it wasn’t the four times as much that Dr. Erskine had predicted.

He could almost feel Bucky’s quiet agreement in his head. Whatever mental connection they had that now went both ways, it seemed to be getting stronger. Or maybe it was just stronger because they’d both drank so much.

Whatever the case, it was sure as hell useful.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please ignore any odd/unlikely stuff travel-time-wise that doesn’t match up with rl. I spent more than an hour to figure out the logistics of it for one small part and I’m now fully prepared to explain it all away with the wave of my hand and a whispered ‘magic.’

They’d gotten out, of course.

Bucky and Steve had learned enough about explosives in their time with Dernier and the Howling Commandos that they’d been able to bring the base to the ground without blowing it sky high and alerting every bad guy for miles—or possibly countries—around.

They walked into a tiny village, no more than ten houses grouped together, near dusk five days after their escape. Steve had fed from Bucky until then, but seeing the town was a welcome sight. Houses meant people. People meant blood other than Bucky’s.

Steve was still afraid his control would slip and he’d almost drain his best friend and lover again. His control was much better than two years ago, but Bucky was _delicious_. He tasted like ambrosia and sex and love _every single time_. It was one hell of a high.

They knocked at the house farthest from the direction they’d come from and, after telling the old woman who’d answered they were lost hikers, they’d been invited in to rest for the night.

It was there that they received several shocks.

The first was that they were somehow in Russia even though they’d fallen from the train in the Austrian Alps. But Bucky’s grandmother had taught Bucky her native Russian when he was a child so they were mostly fine in that regard.

The second shock was from seeing a newspaper with the date. They’d somehow lost _three whole months_. It was nothing short of a miracle that Steve was even still alive after not feeding for so long. They had no idea how it was possible.

Up until then, neither he nor Bucky had thought about how long it would have taken HYDRA to come up with and attach an operational metal arm.

The third and fourth shocks came one on top of the other. The newspaper said that the war was over—declared just days after Bucky and Steve had fallen. And then three months _later_ —less than a week before the paper had been printed—the United States had obliterated two Japanese cities with what were being called atomic bombs. One bomb for each city. Hundreds of thousands of people—of civilians—just…gone. Dead. And more slowly, painfully dying.

That night, they held a mental conversation. After long hours of back and forth, they finally made a decision.

The next morning, they thanked the old woman and gave her some of their food in return for her hospitality before her grandson drove them to the nearest large city.


	4. Chapter 3

Years passed for Bucky and Steve.

Horrified that their own country would indiscriminately kill innocents with the worst bombs the world had ever seen _after_ the war was already declared over, they hadn’t reported in. They could be tried for treason and put to death if they were ever caught. But, as far as the world was concerned, Captain America and Sergeant James Barnes were dead.

Those who were privy to the information knew that they fell to their deaths from a moving train high up in the Alps. No one could have survived that. And if anyone had bothered to look for them, the only thing they could’ve possibly found was Bucky’s severed arm, lending credence to the fact that they didn’t make it.

With some _very_ discrete checking, they discovered that, with the help of Agent Carter, Dum Dum and the other Commandos had taken down the Red Skull with a cheap shot before he even knew they were there so he never got the chance to try to mesmerize them. That and Hitler’s suicide were what had ultimately ended the war.

So, with that off their conscience, they quickly learned to be Russian as well as any native and got forged documentation that said they _were_ Russian.

They sought to live life as peacefully as they could.

Sometime in the first five years after their ‘deaths,’ Steve had realized that something about drinking blood, or maybe something _in_ the blood, either stopped the aging process or slowed it so much that it was undetectable.

Steve had looked in the mirror one day and realized that Bucky showed signs of aging and he didn’t. The next few times he fed, he’d made Bucky drink too. Watching carefully, he noticed the nearly invisible crows feet beside Bucky’s eyes fade. And the few gray hairs he’d gotten went away entirely.

From then on, Bucky always fed when Steve did. They’d decided a very long time ago that they were in it together. So they made sure that they would stay together.


	5. Chapter 4

With the discovery that they wouldn’t age, they agreed that the longest they would stay in an area was ten years. They left sooner if people grew suspicious or if it was time for something new. They disappeared in the dead of night, made up a logical reason and moved, or faked their deaths—whatever was appropriate. They always got new documentation as well as backups wherever they went.

Due to equal parts boredom and the knowledge that their lives may one day depend on it—and sometimes just for fun—they picked up whatever skills they could.

In Russia, they learned new fighting styles as well as both working with and avoiding the mob. After a severe injury—which ultimately ended up forcing them to flee—they accidentally discovered that licking the marks made by their fangs caused them to disappear in seconds.

With that knowledge and new identities, Bucky and Steve moved to New Zealand. They apprenticed under a talented carpenter that could make anything from simple, serviceable furniture to houses to lovingly detailed pieces that were nothing short of works of art. They enjoyed their small cottage and garden outside the city for as long as they could before they left.

Then they moved to Spain where they posed as Russian exchange students. Steve studied art in the form of drawing and painting while Bucky learned everything he could about mechanical engineering and architecture.

When they graduated, they headed for the Australian bush. Steve and Bucky kept up with and added to their weapons skills as well as their hand-to-hand fighting. The people in the small community they settled in took pity on them and taught them the lovely tradition of fighting tooth, nail, knife, and gun to survive on, with, and against the land.

Due to one unfortunate incident where they couldn’t get to civilization fast enough, desperation led to Bucky and Steve discovering that they could survive off of animal blood. It was, without a doubt, the nastiest thing either of them had ever tasted, but they could survive off it if they had no other choice.

After the wilds of Australia, they chose Finland. They’d learned some bush medicine, such as how to treat a crocodile bite and sew it back up, but, once in Finland, they decided to bone up with actual medical classes. They both graduated with medical degrees and were off again.

They went to Iceland because Steve had heard it was really pretty. It was. It was gorgeous. And they hated everything about living there. It was outrageously expensive, cold, dreary, and windy, and, for some reason, the language was a bitch for them to learn. Out of sheer stubbornness, they stayed for the full ten year limit. When their time was _finally_ up, they gladly packed up and left for Canada.

There, they joined a dude ranch as seasonal workers. They liked it so much that they stayed. It worked out very well because there was a constant turnover of guests. People would stay a few days for vacation, and then leave and more would take their place. No one ever got suspicious of them taking blood and they got to enjoy being surrounded by nature.

They also got to train and ride horses, things they’d learned to love while in Australia.

When the allotted ten years were up, they bid a fond farewell and decided to head towards home. For the first time in nearly sixty years, they set foot on US soil.

They both thought that, with the way technology was quickly advancing in the new century, it would be a good idea to learn everything there was to know. So they settled in Seattle, Washington and signed up for college. While Bucky spent his time updating his knowledge on modern electronics and engineering, Steve learned everything he could about computers and cyberspace.

He became one hell of a programmer and an even better hacker in the new century.


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now: some plot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter posted today. Make sure you don't skip anything.

_Buck._

“Hmm?” Bucky hummed absently.

Still lost in his work, he kept his eyes focused on his project. He was working on coming up with a better design for the facemasks and goggles they’d taken from that HYDRA base back in 1945. The technology was so outdated that he knew he could easily do better. And he was tinkering in the back of his mind about making new armor with modern materials. Just to keep his mind active.

 _Bucky._ It was said more urgently.

He glanced up. His brows immediately drew down when he saw Steve’s face. _What’s wrong?_ Because something obviously was.

_Do you remember when I told you about SHIELD eight years ago?_

He thought about it for a second. Back in ’03… _That’s that agency you found out about on the dark web, right? The one started by Peggy Carter and Howard Stark but that doesn’t exist as far as the general public is concerned?_

When Steve began nervously chewing on his lower lip, one fang drawing a drop of blood, Bucky put his project aside and held out his arm.

Steve immediately crawled onto the couch and curled up against Bucky’s side, his face pressed into Bucky’s neck. _They’re looking for me_ , he said.

Even after so long, it sometimes still caught Bucky off guard, how much emotion could be sent through their mental link. Steve was _terrified_.

 _What do you mean ‘looking for you?'_ He tightened his arms and drew his fingers through Steve’s hair, feeling him relax. It was one of the best feelings in the world.

Steve absently started lightly teething little bites at Bucky’s collarbone, which could either be distraction or anxiety. He nudged Steve in the side to prod him along.

_The web had worrying rumors. So to see if they were true, I kind of…hacked into SHIELD’s databases. There’s speculation that, because of the serum, I might have survived the fall from the train. Or that they might be able to find my body so they can make another attempt at recreating the serum._

_They’ve tried to replicate it in the past but it was never right._ _Never the_ success _that I was_ , Steve sneered with distaste. 

Even after all these years, Bucky knew Steve still hated the monster he’d become. And he still hated that no one had told him that it was even a possibility until long after he’d agreed to and received the serum, until long after he’d no longer had any choice in the matter.

_They want to find my body, dead or alive, and run experiments on me._

Bucky breathed in a long, tightly controlled breath.

This was really bad. After all this time—all the time they’d spent living under assumed names, learning to survive against all odds, learning stupid Icelandic and drinking from fucking _animals_ —and it could all be taken away because an organization of nosy spies was looking for Steve.

And if they were looking for Steve then they’d probably look for Bucky, too. Because they were already there, already searching, so why the hell not?

Steve broke into Bucky’s thoughts. _There weren’t any references or hints to my blood drinking. Peggy and the Commandos must’ve kept that bit to themselves after we died. I don’t think Stark ever knew._

 _Well, it makes sense, I suppose,_ Bucky thought. _Even in an intelligence agency—maybe_ especially _in an intelligence agency—who would believe a grown man if he said he willingly donated blood to and went to war with what was essentially a vampire? None of the regular troops knew. They just knew that Captain America was fast and strong and his privacy was guarded fiercely by all his top men. And no one knew about me. Hell,_ I _didn’t even know about me back then._

_Buck, what if they realize that I—that we—made it out alive? That we’re still alive? What if they come for us? We deserted. And we’ve been lying and breaking the law ever since. I don’t want to be a lab rat or used to fight their wars again._

At that, Bucky pulled Steve’s head away from his neck and looked deep into his pretty blue eyes. With his right hand fisted in Steve’s hair and his left pressed gently to his cheek, Bucky said, _I will_ never _let them take you. You are mine, Steven Grant Rogers. Just as I am yours. If we have to fight, then we fight hard, fast, and dirty. We fight for each and every life we’ve lived and the ones that will one day come. We fight for each other. And when the time comes, we’ll run again. Just like before. Just like always._

Steve reached out and wrapped his hand around Bucky’s neck. Pulling him close, Steve pressed their foreheads together and closed his eyes. _I love you. I love you so damn much._

_I will always choose you, Punk._

Steve pressed in and kissed Bucky hard.


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A plan is made.

Two rounds of hot, sweaty sex later they were sprawled out naked on the couch. Steve rubbed his hand up and down Bucky’s metal arm and thought about how they’d worked together to create it.

With their medical degrees from the ’70s, which they’d kept up with as advances were made, and knowledge in mechanical engineering, which Bucky had just had a refresher on, as well as with many other talents that they’d picked up over the years, Steve and Bucky had spent four years designing and creating a new arm. They’d finally attached it the year before.

The whole process had been long and complicated. Steve had been more careful than he’d ever been in his life.

Through the dark web, he’d managed to acquire enough vibranium for the arm. And through a careful combination of the dark web and his programming and hacking skills, Steve had managed to set up a secret back door into Tony Stark’s computer system.

Even greater than that, though, he’d managed do the same to the scientific servers of the world’s secret powerhouse: Wakanda.

He was particularly proud that he’d succeeded without getting caught because the advanced technology of both Stark Industries and the Wakandan Design Group were wildly different. It had been exceptionally difficult, but he’d succeeded.

Discovering the truth about just how advanced Wakanda actually was had been an accident on his part. He’d stumbled on the information in his search for Vibranium. It was one of the strongest and rarest metals on Earth, yet the dark web had hinted at the possibility there being a lot more than anyone knew.

Steve had done his research very well, though, checking and rechecking two dozen times over, before they’d ever attempted to access any knowledge.

When they did, they found out about the royal princess, who was born a year and a half before the turn of the century and was probably the smartest person in the world. But, while she was inventing stuff right and left, she wasn’t quite old enough or experienced enough to run the country’s science division. That was probably the only reason they’d been successful in hacking in and _staying_ in for so long.

But Steve and Bucky had been extremely cautious and prudent about what they’d looked at.

First Steve had gone through their policies on sharing information and technology with people outside their country. If that was an option, then they would have tried to contact them—under assumed names, of course—instead of sneaking in. But it wasn’t. So they focused on their medical and mechanical knowledge. He and Bucky had combined the two and used their systems to perfect Bucky’s new arm, running test after test and simulation after simulation on every variation of the design.

They never tried to access anything that they didn’t absolutely need. They never stole any materials. And when they were done, they’d left a copy of the final blueprint buried deep in their system as payment.

Eventually, he and Bucky tracked down and bought enough vibranium for what they needed. Every time they paid for something, it was with money taken from bad people who were hurting others. They figured that they were doing the world a favor by bankrupting and setting the law after them. The less human traffickers, slavers, and sexual predators there were in the world, the better.

From their back door into the SI servers, Bucky and Steve had come up with a material that was basically a synthetic skin. It could be made to match any skin pigmentation, as well as hair color and texture. It was thin, flexible, durable, waterproof, removable, and—best of all—it wouldn’t overheat the arm. It could be taken on and off without ripping or kept on constantly. It even _felt_ like real skin.

After they were finished creating the Synth-skin, they’d done the same thing they’d done with the arm designs. They’d left a copy of the final blueprint buried deep.

Once they were done with everything, Steve had destroyed his back doors and fixed the blips that had allowed him in in the first place.

All in all, it was four years of research and design and one of focusing specifically on the beyond-advanced medical stuff.

It was time well spent. Bucky had his updated, pretty much indestructible arm, many horrible people were penniless and in jail or dead from enemies with grudges who'd gotten there first, and both SI and the WDG had blueprints that, once discovered, could one day help people around the world.

_I’m going to start spending more time on my projects._

Steve looked down at the man draped over him like a living blanket. He’d thought Bucky was asleep.

_And I think we should go back to daily training_ , he added.

_Because of SHIELD._ It wasn’t a question. He knew what Bucky was working on. They’d discussed it before he’d ever started. But the training was new and could only be a result of what Steve had shared that evening.

_If we’re going to fight, to defend ourselves from being taken—and if they find you, they’ll find me and want me too—then we’re going to need proper gear. Right now, the only thing we’ve got is so outdated that it should be hung in a museum._

Steve let out a short huff of laughter. ‘ _And right past the Captain America exhibit is the hall of What Evil Assholes Used To Wear.’_

Bucky pinched his side for his sass and Steve squirmed. But he could feel Bucky’s amusement. _Training: yes?_

_Yes._

There were a few minutes of easy silence before Bucky spoke again.

_You once mentioned seeing plans for vibranium woven into cloth on the Wakandan servers. Do you think you’d be able to find some or access that again? I could make great combat suits out of that. And if I could figure out a way for us to be able to have the suits on us at all times, then we’d be prepared if someone suddenly tried to grab us._

_Buck. I don’t know that I’d be able to hack my way in again. I destroyed my only access path the last time I left and it’s been a year. They’ve almost definitely updated everything._

_Will you try?_

Steve paused to really think it over.

_Could_ he actually make it back in without being noticed? He’d have to check to see if their no-outsiders policy had changed while they’d been gone. And he’d have to be even more careful than before. Steve was much more skilled now than he’d been five years before but so was the princess. She was older now and wouldn’t be as inexperienced. There was a much higher chance that he’d get caught.

But for a chance to stay safe, to stay free…

_I’ll try._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, series parts 1 and 2 are finished. I should be posting a chapter a week (more if I feel a sudden whim/grow impatient).
> 
> So, what do you think so far?


	8. Chapter 7

It took Steve nearly two and a half months before he thought he was as up to date in his hacking as he could be considering what he was about to do.

If he got caught trying to break into the Wakandan Design Group, then they would have to leave quickly. There would be no telling just how long it would be before SHIELD or some other alphabet agency got wind of who they were and where they were located. To say nothing of what Wakanda would do to them for daring to hack them.

If he succeeded, though, then they would have seven months before their ten year time limit was up. Seattle had been good to them but in May of 2012, they would have to leave.

Steve was thinking about suggesting they go back to New York. It had been a very long time since they’d seen the city. He kind of missed it.

While Steve had practiced and refined his hacking skills, Bucky had nearly finished their masks and goggles.

“These could be so much better, but we just don’t have the materials.” Bucky grumbled under his breath. He did that a lot. Steve wasn’t even sure Bucky realized he was doing it. It was pretty cute, though, and more often than not, Steve had to refrain from jumping his bones.

After the masks were complete, Bucky would focus on their combat suits, hopefully with the information Steve would access.

The year before, Tony Stark had escaped from his own kidnapping and then announced to the world that he was Iron Man.

That was one hell of a suit; the man was a walking tank when he wore it. But Stark’s ideas were completely impractical for them. They were not billionaires with enough money, equipment, and materials to build titanium-alloy suits. Just making Bucky’s arm had taken years. As difficult as it had been, acquiring the vibranium had actually been the easiest part.

And, anyway, Stark’s suit seemed mostly like a one-off. One or two major fights and it would need to be repaired or remade entirely.

So they had to figure out their own way.

Right before Steve attempted to hack the WDG again, he and Bucky spent part of a day going through everything they owned before gathering what they would need to take with them if things went south. Bucky left out the things he was in the middle of using, but everything else went into a pile.

They would leave things like furniture, bedding and clothes behind. But they couldn’t leave the necessities. They couldn’t leave anything that could possibly lead back to their real identities, like the HYDRA armor. Nor could they leave their research or blueprints for the arm and Synth-skin.

Gathering what they would need to take went relatively quickly and, soon, Bucky was once again focused on his project while Steve sat down at the kitchen table to hack.

Now, ten hours later, Steve was pretty sure he’d made it safely in. Bucky was on the couch deep into his research. He mumbled the occasional thought and Steve found it both comforting and calming.

As he’d planned, the first thing Steve did was review the Wakandan policies on helping outsiders. He did stumble on one new policy, but their views of reaching outside their country to help hadn’t changed.

So, still without the option of contacting them for what they wanted, Steve got to work.

The next ten minutes were spent searching through files while Bucky was in the background murmuring little things to himself. Occasionally he’d raise his voice and tell Steve stuff.

“Nanotechnology could work if we could figure out how to pair it with that vibranium cloth. There’s no way it would pair efficiently with any regular materials currently available. We’d either be forced to always wear the suits under our clothes like fucking _Superman_ or we’d have to carry them around with us in a backpack or some such shit. I doubt SHIELD would be so kind as to let us change into them before they attempted to kidnap us.”

“I have been finding that nanotechnology does work quite well with vibranium, yes. Welcome back, Captain Rogers, Sergeant Barnes.” The woman’s accented voice rang clearly through the computer’s speakers.

Steve jerked back in surprise, toppling his chair as he cursed loudly in Icelandic. Bucky slammed his book shut and jumped up from the couch. They exchanged a second-long horrified look before they went right to their pile of necessities and started shoving things into sturdy go-bags.

_Fuck. We should have actually packed everything up before I started._

_Hindsight. We’re sharing the stupid today._

“Please, I’m sorry! You don’t need to leave. You can trust me. I haven’t and won’t tell anybody about you!” the woman said. Whoever it was, she sounded young.

“The last time I trusted someone other than us,” Steve growled angrily, “I was lied to and used and it destroyed nearly everything I thought I knew about myself.” He had a horrible feeling he knew who had caught him.

“I’m sorry for that, but I am telling you the truth. You can trust me. My name is Shuri. I am Princess of Wakanda. And I promise I will not tell a soul about you either of you!”

That didn’t get a response and the sounds of packing didn’t stop.

“Your arm has helped more than a dozen of my people!”

That desperate cry brought them both up short. If she knew about the arm, that it had come from them, then Steve had actually been caught the first time around and they just hadn’t known.

In the sudden blaring silence, Shuri pled her case. “I knew you were there minutes after you got in the first time. I told Griot—my A.I.—to let you stay when I saw you looking at our foreign policies. I approved access to all the medical and mechanical information you used.”

She took a steadying breath when they didn’t try to shut her out or go back to packing. “I’ll admit that it took me much longer than I expected to figure out who you both were; you’re very good at hiding and exceptional with computers. But I’ve known for three years. And, in that time, no one has come after you. Please don’t leave. I just want to help. If not for the science, than because you have helped my people.”


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on posting another chapter this week but the comments I've gotten since I started posting this made me want to. So here you go.

They came to a decision.

 _Hack where you need to hack so we can be sure_ _that no one is coming for us_ , Bucky told Steve.

Standing guard with two guns, a knife, and many extra clips, with two more guns on the table ready for Steve to grab up just in case, Bucky stood watch as Steve got into SHIELD’s files. Any attack would most likely come for them. They didn’t like to share.

After a quick but thorough search, he moved on to the FBI, Interpol, NSA, CIA, and anyone else they could think of. To cover all bases, he even hacked the local police departments.

Eventually, Steve was satisfied. He leaned back with a tired sigh. “You really knew all along?”

“Yes. As I said, you’ve greatly helped my people. Now I can help you!”

“How?” Bucky asked. “Your country doesn’t help outsiders.”

“Ah, but that is why I am a genius.” She sounded so young and mischievous, so proud of herself. Bucky tried to remember just how old she was.

Steve must have known because he said, _She’s thirteen._

“I passed a new policy,” the Princess said. “I believe the Captain—I mean _Geoff_ , here—just read about it.”

Geoff. So she knew their Seattle names as well as the ones they’d been born with.

“If Wakanda uses someone’s property, intellectual or otherwise,” Steve murmured, “then that person, people, group, or groups have the right to compensation.” He hadn’t paid much attention to the policy beyond it being new since the last time he’d checked. He’d been focused more on policies dealing with outreach and helping foreigners. “But we don’t have any property. And, anyway, even if you have used that arm, it doesn’t have any name connected to it, much less ours.”

“And again I say: that is why I am a genius. When you left, you left your designs behind. You are very good at what you do so there could only have been one reason for that. You were leaving it on purpose.

“Before your designs were ever used, I changed the blueprints. What is your American word? Copyright? Patent? Something like that. I put both of your names on everything. Your _real_ names.”

They pondered everything over, sharing thoughts quickly.

“So, what now?” Bucky asked.

“Now, we are indebted millions to you. And I can help to make up for part of that. By rights, your design is worth _at least_ a million American dollars—probably much more—each time it is used. In the last six months, it’s been used for ten of our War Dogs and three others who were in accidents. _And_ your designs have jumpstarted research into similar prosthetics for legs. That is research that wouldn’t be doing nearly so well so quickly had we not had access to your finished blueprints.”

“What are you saying?” Steve’s voice was hoarse from shock.

“I’m saying that I want to help.”


	10. Chapter 9

With the three of them working together daily, it still took them more than six months to perfect their design. Using what Shuri called Kimoyo Beads, which would interface directly with their suits, they would be able to control the nanotech.

For storing the nanites, Shuri greatly favored an African-style necklace. But both Steve and Bucky had shot that idea down. They were neither black nor African so wearing something like that would only draw attention to them. The whole reason they had to make the suits in the first place was because of unwanted attention.

They had settled on cuffs that went around their ankles. They were made out of the vibranium cloth but had the deceptive appearance of simple-looking, very well worn leather bands that no one in their right mind would want to try to steal. Even if someone tried, they would be unable to cut them off. The bands could only be removed by Steve or Bucky’s command. They were thick enough to hide the dime-sized Kimoyo Beads, wide enough for each one to store half of the suit’s nanites without hampering movement, and discrete enough to go entirely unnoticed.

A month into working together every day, Bucky and Steve discussed it and decided to take a huge chance. They hadn’t been discovered or attacked so they’d decided to trust Princess Shuri with the truth—or some of it, anyway. As smart as she was, she was still a child.

So they told her they’d fallen from the train and been captured by HYDRA. By the time they’d escaped Bucky had a metal arm, the war was already over, and they’d decided to stay dead. After decades of hiding, however, Steve had found out that SHIELD wanted them and was, in fact, actively searching for them. If they were caught, the best case scenario would be getting taken prisoner and used as lab rats. Or maybe the best case scenario was getting put to death for treason.

Shuri swore to do what she could to help them.

The three worked together and Bucky and Steve both grew incredibly fond of her, even if it was weird—and possibly a bit creepy—that they were two ninety-five year old men and she wasn’t yet fourteen. But she felt like their insanely-smart, incredibly sassy kid sister.

When her father had died in some kind of embassy bombing, she’d come to them.

They’d connected their systems, ready for work like any other day, only to tearfully be told the news. Instead of working, they’d spent the whole day talking about family, death, and remembering happy moments more than the bad.

Steve told her about when his mother had died and about how it had felt. They’d talked about how relying on the friends and family she had left wasn’t a bad thing. Bucky added that it was okay to grieve or to be angry, that it was okay to miss him and to hurt and to want him back. He would always be her father, even if he was now gone.

“As long as you remember him,” Steve had said, “then he’ll never truly be gone from you. He’ll live on in your heart and the hearts of those that love him.”

So, now, after six months of talking and joking and crying and working together, of becoming friends, Steve and Bucky received a package in the mail. Opening it to reveal their finished gear was exciting and nerve wracking. So much time and energy had been spent to reach that exact moment. But it was sad because it signaled the end. In three weeks’ time, they would, once again, have to disappear.

For the first time, they were really going to miss someone. They were going to miss Shuri a hell of a lot.

Looking into the box, they saw that each set of cuffs was paired up in their own bag, one labeled with an R and the other with a W. Bucky brought it all to the table while Steve connected up with Shuri.

“Did you get them?” she asked without preamble.

“Hello to you, too, little sister,” Bucky drawled with amusement.

They could practically _hear_ her roll her eyes. “Hello, my Wolves. Now, did you get them,” she demanded.

Just to tease her a little longer, Bucky murmured, “Kids these days: so impatient.”

Steve elbowed Bucky hard in the side when Shuri let out a little growl. “We just opened them,” he told her.

She squealed in excitement and then talked them through connecting with the Kimoyo Beads for the first time.

“It’s a little bit like syncing a specific computer up to a specific wireless internet. The beads need to connect to you. Hold both of the cuffs up to your head, right behind your ear. They will make a noise and momentarily glow a faint purple. Then, you know the rest. Just _think_ what you want the cuffs to do. Tell them to open, put them on, and tell them to close.”

When they had done as instructed, she added, “Oh, and I forgot to tell you. The vibranium makes them completely waterproof. Wear them in the shower. To clean under them just tell them to loosen. You never have to be without.”

“What would we have ever done without y—” Steve began. But he was interrupted.

“Shuri.” The voice was deep, the slightest bit raspy, and held the undeniable tone of command in it. The man had the same Wakandan accent as Shuri. “Why are you talking to a foreigner?” It wasn’t so much the word ‘foreigner’ that held a tinge of disapproval, but the entire question.

Bucky and Steve had fallen absolutely silent at the first sounds of Shuri’s name.

“Brother,” Came Shuri’s calm reply.

And that gave them the reason for the level of the man’s disapproval. The Prince of Wakanda—King now, since their father had died—had just discovered his thirteen year old sister talking to what sounded like a grown man. They knew that it was about to get even worse when he found out that she was actually talking to _two_ grown men and had been for months.

“Who are you talking to and why?”

“These men are my science partners and friends.” Shuri sounded like she did when she was about to stubbornly dig in her heels. “White Wolf, Red Wolf, meet my brother, King T’Challa of Wakanda.”

“You talk to two men and, yet, _you don’t even know their names_?” King T’Challa sounded furious and horrified and ready to hunt Steve and Bucky down for even _thinking_ of talking to his little sister. Regardless of how smart she was, she was a child and they, very obviously, were not.

“I know exactly who they are and have since before _I_ contacted _them_. But I haven’t been given permission to tell anyone.” Her brother tried to say something but Shuri cut him off. “They are directly responsible for the advanced prosthetic arms that some of our people now wear. And for that necklace you have around your neck.”

The two men sitting quietly in their Seattle apartment shut their eyes in despair. She sounded utterly defiant in the way that only a teenager could. This was not going to end well for them.

“Who are you and why are you talking to my _young_ sister?” King T’Challa demanded.

“They don’t have to tell you their names.” Shuri matched her brother temper for temper. “And I already told you why we’re talking.”

Bucky and Steve could feel the tension growing by the second. If they were going to attempt to lessen the awfulness of the situation, then they needed to decide now.

“Shuri,” Bucky softly broke into the angry silence. “You know what we risk by talking to you. Do you trust him?”

“With my life,” she replied boldly and without a hint of hesitation.

“…With ours?” Steve questioned after a long moment.

“Yes.” She stated it as if it were absolute truth, like T’Challa was someone that they could really trust.

Bucky and Steve held a brief mental conversation. They’d taken a huge chance on Shuri. She was the first person they’d trusted in nearly seventy years and she hadn’t made them regret it. Maybe it was time to take another leap of faith.

“Is there anyone else around?”


	11. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took so long to post this chapter. Things happened.

The conversation with King T’Challa was far from pleasant.

After learning their real names, he had many pointed questions. They were most likely because he didn’t trust their word. Not that they blamed him. It was his little sister that they were ultimately talking about. His little sister and their relationship with her.

Steve and Bucky basically gave him the same condensed story they’d given Shuri. But they also added in the creation of the prosthetic, how they’d met Shuri, and her insistence that helping them design and build their suits was part of the payment they were supposedly owed for using their prosthetic design.

Shuri had cut in, then, and insisted that, even after they’d gotten the suits that now protected them, Wakanda still owed them well over ten million American dollars. And, she added, that number would continue to rise as more people received prosthetics.

At one point, it was brought up that they had to move on in a few weeks. When Shuri realized exactly what that meant, cutting off all contact, she became really upset.

“Shuri, we can’t leave any ties when we move,” Steve said gently. “We have to become different people. Different identities, different pasts, different possessions, different everything.”

“Then become different people. I don’t care. But don’t stop talking to me. You’ll still have your computer, right?”

“No,” Bucky quietly answered. “That goes too. The only things we keep from one life to the next are necessities. Our research and anything could lead back to who we once were. And now that we’ve got the cuffs for protection, we don’t need all that ugly outdated HYDRA armor anymore.”

All of them were hurting so Bucky tried to lighten the mood. “We’d donate the old garb to join the rest of our stuff in a museum if it wouldn’t lead to too many questions.”

But apparently Steve wasn’t getting the idea because he said, “Bad idea, Jerk. That would probably just convince SHIELD that we are alive somewhere and make them look even harder for us. Right now they’re sticking pretty close to the Austrian Alps.”

_You’re not helping,_ _Rogers_ , Bucky told Steve with a glare.

“I don’t _care_ about the stuff you can’t donate to a museum!” Shuri cut in. “I care about you! Remember what you said when Baba died? You told me to hold him in my heart and to lean on my friends and family. Well, you _are_ my friends and my family now. You’re my Wolves and you have to stay.”

She sounded like she was nearly to tears. Steve and Bucky exchanged sad, guilty looks. Neither of them wanted to break contact with her but that was how it always worked when they changed lives.

“Shuri—”

“What if I donated the old armor for you?” T’Challa cut in.

After a moment, Bucky asked, “King T’Challa…?” It faded away, though, because he had no idea what to say.

“I can say I came across it being sold from some old private collection. That I am donating it because it is a piece of history, and that atrocities of the past should never be forgotten.”

“Forgive me for saying, uh, King,” Steve said as he stumbled over the title, “but as far as the world is concerned, yours is a country full of poor farmers and goat herders, barely advanced enough for running water and electricity. How could you reasonably purchase and then donate four intact and well kept, still-technically-usable HYDRA uniforms from World War II when that money could be better spent feeding or clothing your supposedly starving people?”

They had no idea where King T’Challa was going with his suggestion.

“I have been giving it a great deal of thought lately and I think it’s time for Wakanda to step out of the shadows and reveal itself to the world. My father was for keeping our country and resources close, but I feel there is much we can do to help those in need.”

He paused for a moment before surprising the hell out of Steve and Bucky. “And I would like to meet the ones my sister calls family.” His statement is met with their silence. They didn’t quite know what to say. Neither of them had had a family beyond each other since before the war.

Shuri didn’t appear to have the same problem, however. “Yes!” Her voice burst out from the speakers causing Bucky and Steve to flinch in surprise. “Go and meet them. And you will bring them a computer so that we can keep in contact.”

Then, obviously switching to speaking to Steve and Bucky, she added, “You said you’ll be getting rid of yours so you will need a new one. Mine is much better than anything else you will find. Then you can continue hacking and bankrupting bad guys.”

“How did you…” But there wasn’t much either of them could say to all of that.

_Maybe it’s time to finally keep something for ourselves_ , Bucky whispered.

_A family..._ he heard back.


	12. Chapter 11

Bucky and Steve moved back to Brooklyn in New York City. It was a bit weird going back to where they were born and raised. Everything had changed so much in the past sixty-nine years.

Most of the shops they remembered were long gone. A lot of new, ‘fancy’ ones had taken their places. Quite a few of them advertised things like fermented cucumber tofu smoothies made with hemp milk or kale muffins or sushi croissants in their windows. They refused to even consider the smoothies but they’d bought a sushi croissant to share so they could find out what the fuck it was. The answer was: A Tragedy.

The other thing about Brooklyn was the large amount of hipsters. Men and women ran around with the same hair styles, wore weird clothes combinations, and shouted the word ‘bro’ a lot.

_If you ever try to make me wear pants that tight, I will strangle your balls to match_ , Bucky had told Steve as soon as he saw how a lot of the male hipsters dressed. Steve had just laughed at him.

But they’d spent the last ten years in Seattle where Grunge was still a thing so they didn’t mind it too much, not as long as they didn’t have to join them, anyway. There were still enough non-hipsters around that they didn’t stand out in a crowd.

So, they’d moved to Brooklyn and became Jacob and Chris Williams.

Jacob and Chris got married in 2011 as soon as New York legalized same-sex marriage. Bucky and Steve even had the paperwork—courtesy of Steve’s hacking skills—to prove it.

Ever since Steve had acquired the skills to make their documents himself, he did. He created all the proper papers and seeded proof of their completely average pasts in systems everywhere.

After receiving their cuffs and before leaving Seattle, Steve and Bucky had practiced with the suits until everything had become completely instinctive. They wore the suit’s shoes constantly because why the fuck not? They were comfortable as hell and looked really neat. Also, no shoelaces, because fuck yeah.

The first time they’d tried on the entire suits, though, they’d discovered that Shuri had included Bucky’s mask and goggle designs without telling them. They no longer had to carry the separate pieces around. The best part was that, because the mask and goggles were part of the suit, they were made out of the vibranium cloth and controlled with the nanites.

Maybe it would have been smarter to have a helmet covering their heads, but they’d been worried that it would be too reminiscent Captain America.

One major plus to the whole suit, the beauty of their design and of the nanotechnology, meant that they could hide whatever weapons they wanted on their person. If they needed the suit, it would automatically compensate without losing an ounce of integrity. And they still had access to each weapon with it on. Steve wasn’t quite sure how it all worked—it seemed like magic even if he knew it wasn’t. But he knew for a fact that it did work. They’d practiced with them enough times.

When the suit was on, it looked like a lot of black leather, straps, and buckles. It went up the neck and formed into their high tech masks and goggles. They’d deliberately made their suits look different from any military uniform or armor—evil or otherwise.

One of the things they loved about their new suits was something that Bucky and Steve hadn’t figured out from their many hours of practice. They’d learned it from Shuri.

They made sure to talk to her one last time before destroying their computers and leaving their Seattle lives. The four of them set up plans for T’Challa to meet up with them in D.C. one week after they moved.

But right before they hung up, Shuri revealed something about the suits that hadn’t been in the original plans. The cuffs had more than one set of shoes packed into them.

“If you are going to wear the suit and hide your identities, you can’t go around wearing shoes that match in your everyday lives. That’s just asking for someone to notice.”

Bucky had groaned at that. “But they’re so comfy! Are you telling me that we have to go back to wearing regular shoes?” Both he and Steve were very disappointed. They’d do it, but they wouldn’t like it.

“No. Because I am a genius. Tell your cuffs to put on your boots.”

“Okay…” Neither understood but they did as asked. The expected black boots formed around their feet and ankles, automatically tightening to fit.

“Now tell the suit to put on your sneakers,” Shuri demanded smugly.

“Holy sh—” Steve cut his words off, remembering just in time that they were talking to a child. As they’d watched, the black boots matching the suit transformed into street sneakers.

“Now tell the suit to put on your shoes,” she added with what sounded like a devilish grin.

When they followed her instructions, slick black dress shoes worthy of any fancy party appeared.

“Holy cow, Shuri. You did this? This is amazing!” They both stared wide-eyed at their feet, Steve switching between his again. They’d helped design the cuffs, but, damn if Wakanda’s technology didn’t keep surprising them.

“Yes, I am.” And the little brat was right back to sounding smug. “And now that you have the nice shoes, you will be required to dress up when we meet. You will be meeting a royal princess, after all.”

“Well, of course we will. Who _wouldn’t_ dress up to meet you, little sister?”

Her happy laughter warmed their hearts.


	13. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Round 2: Fight! 
> 
> (Don't skip the chapter before this. I posted two tonight.)
> 
> As in my other fics, things in < > are spoken in another language.

They’d been in New York for six days. They were set to meet up with King T’Challa in the morning but, for now, Bucky and Steve walked around Manhattan. They’d already looked through Brooklyn stores for things to set up their apartment so now they searched elsewhere.

It was early afternoon but they hadn’t found anything yet.

_Buck, I’m getting thirsty._

_Hmm. Earlier than usual. Okay then, come on._

They walked to a slightly less populated area and into a restaurant. It looked closer to a diner than a five-star place. It was perfect.

“Excuse me, miss, but could we please use your restroom?” Bucky asked the hostess with a charismatic smile. The woman blushed and pointed it out for them. They made their way back.

They lucked out because there were two men already in there.

They mesmerized them into pleasantly calm compliance like they always did and Steve drank while Bucky leaned against the door. Then they switched for Bucky’s turn.

Public bathrooms made ideal places to feed because there were no cameras and no one ever expected anything to happen while in there. You go in, you come back out, and everyone just assumed you peed.

They set the strangers to rights after making sure the puncture marks were gone and that neither of them would remember anything. For the hell of it, and because they had a long afternoon of wandering Manhattan planned, they used the bathroom for its intended purposes. They made sure to politely thank the hostess on their way out.

Ten minutes later, they heard screaming and distant explosions.

They were going to stay away. They were trying to keep a low profile and getting involved in someone’s gang war wouldn’t help with that. But then they heard an inhumanly loud roar pierce the air.

They looked up and saw, off in the distance, a glowing blue beam of light and a hole opened up in the sky. And fucking _aliens_ were pouring out. Because apparently aliens were real. A giant, flying, armored space-whale thing was what had roared.

After that, they couldn’t _not_ help. People were dying. After a split-second mental agreement, they darted into a dim alleyway. Steve took a moment to be glad that they’d just filled up on blood before they ducked down to hide the suits sliding on. Then they ran for the other end of the alley.

They had to take a few detours to reach the fighting, but when they did, they saw a black man dressed as Captain America with a shield trying to direct the dazed—but still New-York-cynical—local police. After a moment, one cop interrupted the Captain.

“Why the hell should I take orders from you?”

As if they were in a movie and the director had called action, an explosion burst behind the Captain. He turned, blocked some alien gunshots, and punched a few of them out.

 _I guess that answers the question of what happened to the shield_ , Steve said to Bucky. The way the shots ricocheted off the thing, the way it sounded when they did, there was no way it was a replica. It had to be the real thing.

Looking at the cops who just stared at Captain America, frozen in shock, Steve mentally pushed. _Do what he says._

Jumping to attention, the cop repeated the Captain’s orders into the radio on his shoulder.

Captain America didn’t notice them off to the side. He just turned around and ran back to where more of the action was. Steve and Bucky followed at a distance, helping people where they could. The man would lead them to where they could be of the most use.

They were held up a couple of times so, by the time they reached the bombed out destruction of an overpass in Manhattan, a furious green giant was punching out the flying whale thing. Next, Iron Man shot some kind of explosives at it and the thing crashed to the ground dead.

The alien things clinging to the sides of the buildings started screaming, the green guy— _Hulk_ , Steve supplied for Bucky—started roaring back, and the six people stood back to back in a loose circle staring outwards.

 _What are they, in a fucking movie?_ Bucky asked incredulously. _Is that their hero shot?_

_That’s what I was thinking! Idiots. Don’t just stand around. Get to fucking work before more of them show up._

Captain America opened his mouth to say something but Steve and Bucky stepped into view. Everyone looked at them like they were crazy—as if _they_ weren’t wearing ridiculous suits, too.

<Who the fuck are these two?> the redhead asked in Russian. The guy with the compound bow shrugged his shoulders. Everyone else just stared.

Having thoroughly gone through SHIELD’s files, Steve mentally identified everyone Bucky didn’t know. So, leaving out Tony Stark and Hulk, he said, _The redhead is Natasha Romanov—Black Widow. The archer is Clint Barton—Hawkeye. And I’m guessing that’s Sam Wilson under all the Captain America shit since he was the only black candidate for the tights. I don’t know who the cape-guy is._

Thinking quickly—because they’d never discussed what they would do if they used their suits when SHIELD _wasn’t_ after them—Steve adopted crappy grammar and a thick accent that could have been from anywhere. “We help,” he said, sliding a finger between him and Bucky then pointing at the group. With any luck, they would believe they weren’t American.

Everyone stared suspiciously at for another minute until Black Widow glanced at the sky and said, “Guys?”

More of those space-whales and humanoid aliens on gliders flew out of the hole and Captain America started giving everyone orders.

They learned that the cape-guy’s name was Thor. He was a different kind of alien who could control lightning. Soon enough, Wilson, Romanov, Steve, and Bucky were the only ones left standing there.

“The four of us,” Wilson finished, “we’ll stay here on the ground. Keep the fighting here.”

They got to work.

After years of working together, eight months of hard daily training, and one more of training with the suits, Steve and Bucky didn’t even have to think. They kept in constant mental contact and watched each others’ backs. They’d been fighting for each other for decades against everything from Brooklyn bullies to Nazis to the Russian mob to crocodiles. On one memorable occasion, they’d even fought a giant rabid bear.

Now they could add aliens to their weird and extensive list.

At one point, Black Widow said something about figuring out how to close the portal and Wilson used the shield and some kind of rocket boost to launch her into the air like the pair of crazies they obviously were. She caught an alien glider and then it was just the three of them. Over the Captain’s ear com, Barton told him that there were civilians trapped in a bank. The man suddenly sprouted metal wings from some weird pack on his back and fucked right off to wherever.

_Guess it’s just you and me now._

Now that they were alone, they tried using their mesmerism to make the aliens pause. It worked, but only just barely. It was like there was already some sort of mental link in place.

Taking a couple of the alien weapons—because they were running low on ammunition—they shot the ugly things down and went to find some more.

A minute and forever later, they were fighting back to back outside a building marked Farmers Insurance when Iron Man came exploding out of the ass end of one of the space-whales. He landed in a crashing faceplant, hitting a taxi on the way down. Before he was all the way on his feet, one alien shot him. Bucky took it out then focused on the others before they could try their luck, too.

Steve moved to help Stark stand but heard him shout, “A nuke? Who the fuck fired a nuke at the goddamned city?! The _Council_ fired a fucking nuke?” Then he jetted off.

With the lovely information that they were all about to be incinerated, they made their way back to the fighting. They met up to fight back to back with Cap and Thor.

It wasn’t long, however, before many things happened in quick succession.

Steve faintly heard Romanov say over Cap’s earpiece that she could shut down the portal and he silently passed the info to Bucky. Stark aimed the nuclear missile at the alien war ship in space while everyone except them stared up like fucking idiots. Steve and Bucky had the presence of mind to keep shooting at the aliens that were fucking shooting at them.

The nuke exploded and every alien that they could see collapsed like marionettes with their strings cut. After a few seconds where they didn’t see Stark, Wilson gave Romanov the order to close the portal. With no more danger of being shot, Steve and Bucky joined everyone in looking up. They watched as Stark fell through the hole in space at the last second and they watched as Hulk caught him before he hit the ground.

Steve and Bucky waited around just long enough to be sure that Stark was still alive before they snuck away. There would definitely be questions that they didn’t want to answer if they stayed. As it was, they hadn’t spoken more than a few words to any of them and no one knew their faces. Or that Bucky had a metal arm. They wanted to keep it that way.

_I guess it’s time for more hacking. Have to make sure we don’t get tracked down by anyone._

_We literally just moved_ , Bucky complained. _I don’t want to move again._

_Hopefully it won’t come to that._

_Hopefully they’ll mind their own fucking business._

_Fat chance._


	14. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after the attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life has been hectic. I'm still posting but it's slow, despite having it completely written. Editing/proofreading and posting take time and when there's not much motivation...
> 
> But here's another chapter for you.

They exited the train at Washington Union Station in D.C. at half past six in the morning. They were set to meet with King T’Challa at eight and they figured they could use the extra time to scope the place out. D.C. was _full_ of cameras and, without a protected computer, Steve couldn’t hack SHIELD to make sure they weren’t being tracked. He sure as hell wasn’t going to use one from the library.

Steve figured they were okay for a little while, at least. They’d taken extremely paranoid precautions the night before.

After ditching the movie heroes before the obligatory Hero Shot with the sunset in the background, they’d made sure to take a long, very complicated route home. Once they’d gotten there, they had only stayed long enough to change clothes, don ball caps, collect their go bags—in case they couldn’t return—and the backpack with the HYDRA masks, goggles, and armor for their meeting. Then they hopped the train to D.C.

With a half-wall at their backs, Bucky and Steve sat quietly, heads down while they subtly studied the pedestrian rush hour traffic buzzing in and around the plaza. By far, the most popular topic they heard discussed was the attempted alien invasion the day before and how a group of defenders called the Avengers had stopped it. Or how a group of suited up wannabes had destroyed Manhattan. It depended on who you listened to and what news outlet that person followed.

No one mentioned how the World Security Council had tried to nuke New York City. That was apparently something that had been hushed up.

Sensing movement too late, Steve started to turn his head. But he suddenly had arms wrapped tightly around his neck. He was half a second away from violently attacking to get out of the hold but Bucky’s arms snapped out to still his.

_No! It’s a child!_

Whoever it was had buried their face in Steve’s neck. Bucky was reaching out to drag the person off but, before they could do anything, the child spoke. “I was so worried! I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“Shuri,” Bucky breathed. The fight drained out of them and tired relief filled its place.

Her head popped up and she let go of Steve and moved in to hug Bucky. “Of course it’s me, idiot. Who else would it be?”

“Oh, I don’t know. SHIELD, maybe?”

She grimaced and gave a tiny repentant, “Sorry,” before stepping back.

“What are you doing here, Shuri?” Steve asked. “We were only supposed to meet with your brother.”

“You didn’t come alone, did you?” Bucky sounded deeply disapproving.

“You two worry too much.”

“‘It’s not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.’” Steve quoted. That earned him a slightly irritated look and a light slap on his shoulder. “Seriously, though, you didn’t come by yourself, right?” He studied the faces nearby.

“She did not come alone, though I thank you for worrying. She came with me and some of my Dora Milaje.”

Their gazes snapped to the familiar voice and they saw a tall black man wearing an obviously bespoke suit with a large and colorful scarf draped over his shoulder. He could only be King T’Challa. There were two bald women dressed in classy black dresses standing at his sides. With one quick scan of their bodies and the way they held themselves, Steve guessed that both women were skilled fighters. He didn’t see any weapons but, if they were Wakandan, that meant nothing.

“Hi. It’s really nice to meet all of you. Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but do you mind if we go somewhere private?” Bucky asked. His eyes scanned the busy plaza, surrounding areas, rooftops, and skies. “After yesterday, we’d like to stay out of public view as much as possible until we can figure out how close we are to being identified and tracked.”

“Of course. Follow me.”


	15. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For sunnyhmoobtsab who made me realize that it’s been too long since I last updated.

They followed the king’s small entourage at a safe distance. Shuri hadn’t liked that one bit, wanted to stay with them, but they’d told her that it was better for the Wakandans _and_ for Bucky and Steve if they weren’t seen together, just in case they were much closer to being discovered then they’d guessed.

When they entered the King’s hotel room, there was another woman sitting at a table going over paperwork. She wore a yellow dress that looked gorgeous with her dark chocolate skin and reddish hair.

Subtly positioning their bodies in case of an attack from yet another lethal female, both men glanced at T’Challa’s before going back to keeping an eye on her.

“Gentlemen, this is Nakia. She will be overseeing the humanitarian policy of my country.”

Their eyes flicked back to him. He was calm and relaxed so they relaxed minutely as well.

“So, you’re really going to do it? Open up your borders, outreach and all that?” Steve wanted to know.

“It is time.”

“Past time, if you ask me,” Nakia said under her breath. It made their lips twitch, even if they weren’t meant to hear it.

“Well, we wish you the best of luck,” Bucky told him.

Shuri soon got impatient, however. “Yes, yes, yes, politics, how exciting. Now, come over here. For science!” She grabbed each of their hands and tugged. Bucky and Steve shared amused and indulgent looks as they let her drag them over to the couch. Multiple pieces of tech were laid out over the small coffee table.

“Shuri,” Steve said, hoping for a bit of disapproval instead of the excitement he really felt, “you told us one computer. What is all this?”

“I did no such thing. I told _T’Challa_ he would bring a computer.” Then she went through everything on the table. There were two computers that only kind of looked like normal laptops. “I made them American-style for you. And they are connected to…”

“Red Wolf, White Wolf, good morning to you.”

The male’s voice had come from in front of them. It startled Steve and Bucky badly enough that they instantly had knives in their hands and had leapt in front of Shuri.

Their sudden movement had caused the two women in black dresses to react. In a split second, they had long silver spears pointed at Steve and Bucky, ready to fight. Immediately, though, they realized that the men weren’t even looking at their princess, but protecting her with their bodies. The Dora Milaje stood down with slight smiles.

Shuri started to laugh. “…Griot. These computers are connected to my lab and Griot. Remember I told you about my A.I.?” She playfully—and annoyingly—poked them in their backs and sides until they warily put their weapons away and sat back down.

After the laptops, she showed them the small inner-ear communication devices for use when wearing their suits. They had an unlimited range and were on a closed-system loop so they could talk to each other and couldn’t be hacked or listened to.

Then there were the mostly-American-looking cell phones that were as high tech as the computers. “If anyone tries to hack into your tech, Griot will notice, block them, and let you know immediately. Also, now you have no excuse not to call me.

After Shuri went over everything she brought them, Steve got to work with one of the laptops. It didn’t take him long to learn how to use it since they’d been using Shuri’s lab’s technology for most of the last five and a half years.

With T’Challa and Nakia talking quietly at the small table on the other side of the room, the two bald women standing nearby to guard Shuri, and Steve busy hacking, Shuri wrapped her hand loosely around Bucky’s left wrist.

“May I?” she asked.

With only a slight hesitating glance at the two Dora Milaje, he stood up from the couch and stripped off his long sleeve shirt. Settling on the edge of the coffee table out of Steve’s way, he turned his shoulder to Shuri.

Looking at Bucky, the only difference between his right and his left was the large amount of intense scarring around his left shoulder, ribs, and back. The raised bumps looked like painful sunbursts, a dark, scar-pink against his skin.

“How is this possible? Your arm shouldn’t look like this.”

Bucky’s mouth quirked into a satisfied smirk. He reached his right hand over his shoulder to dig underneath and tug at the scars curving around his shoulder blade and then his shoulders, chest, and ribs.

The scars weren’t actually scars. They were where his synthetic skin started. They only looked like jagged scar tissue.

It had been the only way they could think of to completely hide the seam. Make the Synth-skin look like scarring and people assumed it was scarring. Make it look painful and anyone who saw it assumed you didn’t want to talk about it. Make it look horrific enough and they looked away uncomfortably. And, anyway, it was much better to say ‘I was in an accident’ than ‘it’s covering up my metal arm.’

He pealed back the thin sleeve of fake skin until his entire vibranium arm was displayed and the sleeve was mostly inside out. Shuri’s attention was caught immediately and she bent to examine the Synth-skin closely.

She was berating herself under her breath about not thinking of it herself and what a good idea it was when Nakia stalked over to them. She stared at Bucky with a confrontational expression.

“Where did you get that arm? We have not shared our technology with outsiders, yet. How did—”

King T’Challa stopped her with a sharp word but Shuri’s temper had already flared.

“You mean, how did _we_ gain access to _their_ technology? They spent five years making his arm and our people have benefited from it. You should watch what you—”

“Shuri,” Bucky cut off her outburst, watching Nakia’s eyes the whole time. “Enough. There’s no need to start any arguments. You know we left you those designs for a reason. She can think whatever she wants. As long as she knows that we will defend ourselves to the death, if need be, should she ever decide to attack.” Slowly, deliberately, he slid his eyes down to where she fingered a hidden blade disguised as jewelry.

Shuri crossed her arms and sat glaring in stony silence. The only sound in the tense room was the quiet continuous clacking of computer keys.

After a few minutes of the taut silence, Steve broke it with a long sigh. “They couldn’t track us. There was enough damage done by the Chitauri aliens yesterday that there were no useful images of us, how we fought, or when and how we arrived or left. As far as most of the world is concerned, we weren’t there at all.” _As far as SHIELD is concerned, there’s no connection between the ‘unknown masked foreigners’ and the search for our bodies in the Alps._

He leaned back against the couch scrubbing his face, tired now that the worry had suddenly lessened. “The Avengers are too busy helping with cleanup and rescuing people to look for us and, again, with the amount of damage done, Stark’s A.I. is getting nowhere fast. For now, SHIELD is mostly concentrating on controlling the press and saving face.”

_The biggest threats to our safety are that three high-level SHIELD agents saw us and, of those three, Black Widow and Captain America got a close-up look of how we fight. Also, Stark’s ego and curiosity. He knows good tech when he sees it and he’s probably chomping at the bit to examine ours up close._ “There’s also no mention anywhere of your arm so, if Stark scanned you, either the suit blocked it or it just blended in with the readings.”

“So it’s safe for us to go home?” Bucky asked. His shoulders dropped and his spine slumped a bit.”

“Yes. If SHIELD captures us, then it’ll most likely be a fluke or because of something else.”

“If you get taken, then I will rescue you.”

Before anyone could say a word otherwise, Bucky and Steve straightened up from their slouches. They spoke at the same time, horrified at the mere idea.

“Absolutely not!”

“You will do no such thing!”

“But—” She tried.

“No buts.” Bucky stared hard at her with narrowed eyes. “If we’re found and taken, then you will stay far, _far_ away. Do you understand me?” He switched his intense, almost angry gaze to T’Challa. “You’ll _make_ her stay away,” he ordered. Then it was back to Shuri. “We either escape and run again or we don’t, but you are _not_ to get yourself on SHIELD’s radar. Especially not in connection to us.”

When Shuri looked to Steve, he joined Bucky in staring her down. “I don’t care who originally started that organization. At least half of what I’ve read from them points to them being as close to HYDRA as possible without actually _being_ HYDRA. You are _not to get involved_.”

She needed to understand that this was non-negotiable. “We need your word on this.”

When she stubbornly stayed silent, Bucky closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed heavily into the silence and then looked her in the eye. “We’ve been lab rats before.” He held up his left arm and wiggled his black and gold fingers. “You’re a smart girl, Shuri. What do you think happens to the ones who release the rats?”

Eventually, they secured a grudging promise and Shuri sulked over on the couch next to Nakia while Steve and Bucky gave King T’Challa all the old HYDRA stuff. They gave a small rundown of how it all had been acquired and used. He tried to give them money for it but they wouldn’t accept.

“We would have just destroyed it all if we weren’t giving it to you. Keep your money, King. Use it for something worthwhile.”

They were about to turn away, to go make nice with Shuri when, with a thoughtful look, the King said, “You may call me T’Challa. After all you’ve done for my people, for my sister…” he shook his head.

Focusing back on T’Challa, Steve exclaimed, “All _we’ve_ done? You know how this all started. We only helped ourselves; your sister was the one who helped your people.”

“And Shuri’s helped us way more than we’ve ever helped her,” Bucky added.

“We’ll just have to agree to disagree, then. Regardless, I thank you for everything you’ve done.”

Before long, it was time for Steve and Bucky to go.

During their goodbyes, Bucky gladly accepted Shuri’s fierce hug. Before she could step back, however, he cupped her face in his hands. “Hey, I want you to remember something. You saved so many people’s lives yesterday. You’re just as much a hero as any of those clowns in costumes out there. And you’ve saved both of _our_ lives. No matter what happens from here on out, you’ve given us one hell of a fighting chance. Thank you, little sister.”

He leaned down and kissed her forehead.

Then Bucky stepped back and Steve took his place. He drew her into a tight hug as her tears soaked into the front of his shirt. “I’m so glad we met you.” He whispered. “You’re one of the brightest spots in our lives. Keep being exactly who you are. Don’t let anyone tell you that you that you need to change. You’re wickedly smart, but you’re also kind, strong, funny, and brave.

“No matter what, you are indelibly written on our hearts.” He placed his own kiss on her forehead and turned away.

_Indelibly written on the hearts of monsters_ , he thought to Bucky.

With one last look over his shoulder, Steve planted a seed in Shuri’s mind. _Let us know if you ever need our help._

Hopefully it would stick for a very long time. Hopefully they lived long enough to answer should she call.

Hopefully she would never need to.

They disappeared with the phantom-feeling of Shuri’s eyes on their backs.


	16. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two years go peacefully by. Until...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short one today. Hope you like it.

Back in Brooklyn, Bucky and Steve lived a quiet life. They had their rules that they lived by and it worked, as it had for decades. Of course, they’d broken a few of those rules. Two people now knew about them, knew who they used to be. But it was enough to trust.

They kept in regular contact with Shuri and, as time went on, more and more contact with T’Challa. One time, they’d even talked briefly with Nakia.

Having a direct line to Shuri’s lab through their laptops, Steve no longer had to hack his way in. So when Shuri wanted to bounce ideas off Steve and Bucky, it was a simple matter of an audio or video call.

Nakia walked in to Shuri’s lab one day while they were discussing her Ring Blades and Bucky talked her into demonstrating them for him and Steve so they could better help Shuri with upgrading the weapon.

All in all, it was a very pleasant two years spent in Brooklyn. They worked with Shuri and, in their free time, Bucky taught himself computer engineering and Steve picked up sculpting and pottery.

As a birthday present their first year there, Shuri had even sent Steve a Wakandan tablet where he could create art to his heart’s content. He wouldn’t lose any more sketchbooks to a museum or to changing lives.

But, without meaning to, they broke another rule. They let down their guard. They relaxed.

In August of 2014, in the dead of night, a twenty-man strike force quietly broke into their apartment. Bucky and Steve had been asleep and woke up when some kind of tranquilizer dart hit each of them in the neck. Steve stayed coherent long enough to yell out to Shuri’s A.I. in Wakandan.

<Self-destruct!> As they’d planned two years before, every single piece of tech they owned—with the sole exception of their suits and Bucky’s arm—immediately and permanently wiped any and all data they contained. Then they physically melted into useless sludge and ruined materials that no one would ever be able to put back together.

They’d long since figured out how to connect to each others’ cuffs as easily as their own so, with the very last reserves of his energy, Steve ordered his and Bucky’s vibranium suits to cover them.

Steve’s mind and body were quickly shutting down but he had the wherewithal to hope that the two extra sets of shoes in their cuffs meant there were enough nanites to cover their entire bodies, hair and all.

It was the last thing he thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliffhanger!! (Sorry not sorry!) 
> 
> Send me a line if you think you know what's going to happen and want to tell me about it. Or if you want to yell about this chapter. ;)


	17. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First chapter out of two posted tonight.

Steve dreamed in memories.

He dreamed of Bucky at seven years old throwing a tantrum because he’d wanted to play stickball but Steve was too sick to go outside and run around. Bucky had grumbled about it but had stayed in and played marbles with him instead.

He dreamed of the time Shuri had called him and Bucky in tears. She was five months past fourteen and a chauvinistic pig of a scientist had told her that she was too young to have any clue as to what he was talking about and that ‘stupid little girls should be playing with dolls and learning how to birth snot-nosed little brats, not playing at being a man in a science lab.’

He dreamed of his mother singing an Irish lullaby late into the night one of the times he’d been sick and at death’s door.

He dreamed of the time he and Bucky had stayed up all night trying to get drunk on hard Australian alcohol a week after Steve had nearly gotten his arm torn off by a crocodile. After being stitched up and drinking from Bucky hadn’t been enough, they’d had to completely drain the blood from five animals just to make it back to civilization. The alcohol had been their attempt to forget the revolting taste.

He dreamed of the time Dum Dum had bet the rest of the Commandos that he could beat Steve at an arm wrestling contest if Steve hadn’t fed for two and a half days. He hadn’t lost graciously.

Steve dreamed of loving Bucky his entire life. Of loving him so much it hurt, even when he hadn’t been able to say a word.


	18. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter out of two posted tonight. Don't skip the first one.

Bucky dreamed in memories.

He dreamed of Steve, eight years old and sick in bed, delirious with a bad fever. A priest stood over Steve and gave him last rights, then turned and told Sarah Rogers that, by rights, Steve should have died before he was a year old so it was about time. Bucky had kicked him hard in the shin and then climbed into Steve’s bed crying.

He dreamed of the time Shuri had called just to talk and he’d ended up telling her about when he and the Howlies had tried to give Steve plasma after he’d received the serum and how Steve had nearly died because of it. Of how he’d later told Bucky that it had felt like he was being set on fire from the inside but how he couldn’t do anything about it, too weak to even move.

He dreamed of lying on their couch, his whole body draped over Steve like a blanket, his head on Steve’s chest, falling asleep to the sound of his strong heartbeat, his steady breathing, and the television playing softly in the background.

He dreamed of the first time Steve had fed from him, of the echo of Steve’s memories that had run unbidden through his mind and of the fantasy that had finished out the bunch. Of feeling the rush of Steve’s heat and desire, of the pleasure that pumped through his own veins. Of feeling the epiphany that Steve wanted Bucky just as much as Bucky wanted Steve.

Bucky dreamed of a love so strong that nothing could shake it or break it.

_Until the end of the line._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And _still_ the cliffhanger hangs on. Feel free to shout into the void (a.k.a. the comments) at me. 😘


	19. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did you wonder 'What happens next?' Well, it's finally time to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Alphaess who commented on the last two chapters and made me laugh. Thanks for that.

“Chill it some, Athena, your Goddess of War is showing. They should have woken up a long time ago. The doctor is just going to see about hooking up a little plasma to speed it along.”

“No!” It was almost a screech it was so loud and high pitched. “Even if you could get past their suits—which you _can’t_ —he’s allergic! He’ll die! Don’t touch them!”

Bucky pulled his mind up through the thick wool that was layered around it. He silently called out to Steve but got no reply. “Shuri.” Her name was slurred and sticky on his tongue but everyone heard it.

“White Wolf. Red Wolf got your suits on. I need you to uncover your eyes for me.”

It was a long minute before his brain would connect, but eventually he was able to do as he asked.

“Good. Now can you open them?”

Again, it was an effort but he managed.

He tried to mentally connect with Steve a second time but failed. “Is he…?”

“He’s alive. You’ve been unconscious for four days but my Wolves are strong.”

“Fuck. Dora?”

“Here, White Wolf,” one of them said. Everything was blurry—his mind, his eyes—but he thought he recognized the first two Dora Milaje he and Steve had ever met down in D.C., Okoye and Ayo.

“Help me to him?” He forced his brain to start coming back online now that he was awake, even if his body wasn’t quite there yet. He didn’t know where he was. He only trusted Steve, Shuri, and the Dora to touch him. He prayed they would do as he asked. “Please.”

Okoye said something in Wakandan to Shuri, which Bucky believed translated to ‘stay between us and the wall’ but, again, his brain wasn’t running up to speed right at the moment. Then the two African warriors were heaving him up under the arms and walking him to Steve.

When Bucky was finally seated at Steve’s hip, he turned to the women. In stumbling Wakandan he told them, <Please. Need you to trust. Won’t hurt her,> he flicked his eyes to Shuri, <Everyone out. Only you left.> This time he looked at all three of them.

His brain wasn’t coming up with all the Wakandan words he needed but he hoped he got his point across. And that they would trust him. He didn’t think they knew who he and Steve used to be, only that Shuri and T’Challa trusted them and vice versa. He really hoped that that would be enough for now.

Apparently it was because the two warriors made everyone including the doctors leave in under a minute. <Need to block cameras,> he whispered to Shuri. <Can’t let them see.>

She looked around for a second before she ran and stripped the top sheet from Bucky’s bed. Once back, she and the Dora held it over all five of them, blocking any possible views. They watched as Bucky retracted the suit from his forearm and from his and Steve’s heads. He held his right wrist out to Steve’s mouth.

<Come on, baby. It’s been too long. You know you need to.> When talking an unconscious Steve into biting him didn’t work, he pulled his wrist back and drew blood with his own teeth. He hoped the taste of blood would jump-start Steve’s instinct.

But the second his own blood touched his tongue, Bucky gagged and almost threw up.

<What the hell did they shoot us with?> he whispered, staring horrified at his wrist. His blood tasted like chemicals, raw sewage, and bloodied ash. The _only_ positive to it was that the shock of it woke him the rest of the way up.

Shuri seemed to put the facts together quickly and held her own wrist up to Steve’s lips. Bucky yanked it back before Steve could attempt to latch on. <No. Regardless of how smart you are, you’re still too young. We have rules for a reason.> She’d only just turned sixteen.

Bucky stared at his wrist and then at Steve’s face. With distaste he made himself reach out again to try to make Steve drink his blood, even if it was even worse than an animal's. Halfway there, Ayo stopped him with a gentle hand on his arm. Then she offered her own.

Studying her face he asked, <Are you sure? You don’t have to.> At her firm nod, he gave her a silent, relieved look of thanks and held her wrist up to Steve’s mouth. When still nothing happened, he uttered a quiet curse and said, <Always making my life difficult.> Then Bucky bit her himself as gently as he could. As soon as her blood touched Steve’s lips, he latched on like a starving man and began sucking.

Bucky’s shoulders dropped and he breathed a sigh of relief. He carefully monitored Ayo’s breath and heartbeat as well as the rate at which Steve drank. He pulled her back before Steve could take too much. Before he let go, Bucky licked the wound closed.

Turning back he whispered, <Come on, sweetheart. You need to open your eyes now.> _You hear me, Steve?_ <Open your eyes, baby. Let me see those pretty blues.> Nothing happened and he laid his forehead against Steve’s chest. _I think I know why we spent three months with HYDRA, Steve. Because you wouldn’t wake the fuck up._

When Bucky sat back up, he realized Okoye was holding her arm out to him. He thought that she was probably right, that Steve just hadn’t had enough blood. But, when he looked into her eyes, he saw the hesitation there. She didn’t really want to offer but thought she must.

So he shook his head. <It’s enough for now. We can wait.>

For a moment, he saw the relief in here eyes. But then determination took its place. She shook her head and offered her arm again.

He gave her the dignity of her choice.

Knowing he’d be more careful than an unconscious quasi-vampire, he gently bit into her wrist and placed it to Steve’s lips. Bucky was just about to pull her arm back when Steve groggily blinked his eyes open and froze.

_Seal it up, Punk. What are you, new at this?_

Spurred on by that, Steve did as he was told before staring at them all huddled under a sea green bed sheet like idiots.

“Um,” Steve said eloquently. “Where are we?”

Now that the blood drinking was over, the women started to remove the covering.

_Put on your mask and goggles_ , Bucky quickly told Steve. Because they _didn’t_ know where they were. Bucky should have asked before.

“You’re in my Tower,” a brown-haired man with a ridiculous goatee said from the doorway. One look told them it was Tony Stark. “And I have to ask. What’s with the sheet? Is that what all the cool kids are doing nowadays? Hiding under a sheet because the big, bad HYDRA baddies came to get them?

“You’re welcome, by the way. Her imperial Highness, Athena, over there demanded that I go rescue you or she’d burn everything I love to the ground. I assumed she meant SI because she doesn’t really seem like the type to set Pepper on fire. And, wow, you two staring at me with those masks on is _super_ creepy, so could you not?”

After his rambling chatter, they silently stared at him. By mutual agreement—and thank fuck their mental connection was back—they waited until Stark’s eye started twitching and his fingers fidgeted before they removed the goggles. They left the rest of the masks on.

As one, Bucky and Steve looked at Shuri, Okoye, and Ayo. They both raised an eyebrow in question.

Shuri was the one who answered. “SHIELD broke into your place four nights ago. They apparently shot you with some kind of heavy-duty tranquilizer. Red Wolf yelled to Griot and Griot notified me.”

Steve and Bucky narrowed their eyes at her. “You promised us you would stay away if we were captured.

“Oh, I kept my promise. I stayed far, far away. All the way in Wakanda, in fact. But I made _him_ go and get you.” Shuri nodded her head at Stark. “Also, SHIELD isn’t _like_ HYDRA, it _is_ HYDRA. Or _was_ , by now, I imagine. Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye were in the process of dismantling it from Washington D.C. this morning.” At their silent question, she added one last thing. <I sent all the information you’d gathered on SHIELD over the years to the Avengers. Griot has all of your stuff backed up, by the way. You didn’t lose anything.>

“My head hurts,” Bucky said on a complaining sigh. “Can we go now? We both could use a drink after the last few days.” He locked eyes with the three women and saw that they all caught his meaning.

“Um, I like alcohol as much as the next person,” Stark cut in. “Probably even more so, in fact. But neither of you should drink for a while after whatever they shot you up with. Pretty Princess over there wouldn’t even let us try to draw blood from you so we have no idea what they used or when it’ll leave your systems. All the doctors are suggesting you stay here and give us samples so we can run some tests.”

Steve and Bucky froze and then shook their heads vehemently. Steve focused his—admittedly impaired—mind on Stark. _You don’t need any blood._

They all watched Stark’s eyes go a little distant—something that wouldn’t have happened had Steve been fully functional.

“On the other hand,” Stark said with a smirk, “you both look like the type to afraid of needles. So we can probably skip all that.”

<We need to go now,> Steve warned quietly in Wakandan, wary of any watching cameras. The women looked at him but only Bucky knew for sure what he’d done. <We should leave before he changes his mind,> he added.

Reading the hint, Bucky stared at Stark and used his own mesmerism. “Are we free to go?” he asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, sure. If you really want to.”

Bucky clumsily slid off the bed, wavering unsteadily until Ayo slipped under his arm. When he regained his balance enough, he released her shoulder and shook his head. <We’ll support each other. You guys need your arms free.>

<I’m assuming our apartment’s out,> Steve said quietly once they made it outside. <Do any of you know of a private place to talk?>

Steve and Bucky both knew they didn’t have any choice in the matter now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what did you think? Did it meet your hopes or expectations? Did I fall short? How do you think their talk will go?


	20. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Starting this week, I will be going into some serious overtime at work. I will hardly have any time until Christmas and the little time I do have I can almost guarantee I won't feel like writing. Or, if I do sit down and try, I won't get much done. So, instead of making you wait until January for the end of the story, I'm going to post the rest of it now. (I'll post one chapter now, two tomorrow, and the last two the next day. Unless I change my mind and just post the rest all at once. We'll see how I feel.)

An hour later, the suits had been sent back into their cuffs and Steve and Bucky were sitting on the Wakandan jet in their pajamas.

They hadn’t gone straight there. They’d needed to feed and get the rest of the drug out of their systems. After drinking nine pints, Bucky could no longer taste the toxic junk in his own blood. But Steve’s still tasted bad. HYDRA had definitely given Steve a higher dose of knockout drug in order to capture them. He took the rest of what he needed from Bucky once they were on the jet.

Before long, the men sat together, nervously waiting for whatever was about to come. Steve was all but curled in on himself. He sat with his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his legs.

“Why won’t you look at me?”

Shuri had waited to speak until the jet was hovering invisibly in the sky and both the Dora Milaje had come back from the cockpit. And she asked them from her seat on the other side of the jet. All in all, Shuri was about fifteen feet away with the two Dora standing between them.

They didn’t know if it was deliberate, but it very much felt that way. But neither Steve nor Bucky blamed any of them.

Steve planted his face against his knees and said, “You know why.”

“We never wanted you to find out,” Bucky added into the silence.

“You made Stark say those things, didn’t you?” Okoye asked. “What are you?” It wasn’t quite a demand, but it was close.

After how the women had trusted them—at least for those few crucial minutes—and willingly helped, they deserved an honest answer.

“Our real names are Captain Steven Grant Rogers and Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. And we are monsters.” Bucky took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We understand if you don’t want anything to do with us anymore.” Steve still wouldn’t look up.

Bucky stared sadly at the ground. “No one would relish the idea of hanging around a couple of bloodsuckers who could control them unless they had to.”

“You weren’t born like this,” Shuri guessed. “Did HYDRA do something to you?”

Reluctantly, they told the Wakandans about Steve volunteering for SSR’s _Project: Rebirth_ to help win World War II and save lives, being chosen, and receiving the serum, only to discover months later that there were extreme side effects. Dr. Erskine and Agent Carter had both known it was a possibility beforehand but hadn’t said a word.

Steve had only been told after. After he’d unknowingly starved and almost attacked an innocent. But, by then, it had already been far too late.

They’d only discovered what HYDRA had done to Bucky when he’d been a POW after they’d fallen from the train.

“I need to feed every three days,” Steve said, “or, best case, I die. Worst case, I mindlessly attack anyone and everyone. Whatever drug we were given, then and now, I somehow survived in some sort of coma for far longer than I should have been able to. We lost a little over three months back then, the same as we lost four days now.”

Steve knew it made him a coward to not look at the women but… _I don’t want to see their revulsion_ , he whispered.

He felt Bucky shift and lean against his side. He assumed Bucky had finally looked because his resigned voice echoed in his head a moment later. _Steve._

Steve reluctantly looked up to see exactly what he’d feared. Okoye, Ayo, and—worst of all—Shuri all looked utterly repulsed.

He couldn’t help the way he tried to shrink in even more on himself. He looked away. “If you’re going to kill us, we’d appreciate it if you made it quick.” He brought his legs down for easier access.

“We won’t stop you.” Bucky added, sliding his hand into Steve’s. Neither was sure if it was to take comfort or give support.

“Otherwise, you can drop us off wherever. You never have to see or hear from us again.”

One of them, Shuri, Steve thought, sucked in a breath.

One of the Dora Milaje stepped towards them and Steve and Bucky both cringed and closed their eyes.

_Goodbye_ , their minds whispered in one final kiss.

They weren’t sure what they expected to happen, maybe for their heads to be lopped off with some sort of vibranium blade. Beheading was how many immortal vampires were killed in books and movies, after all. And what were they but impossible fiction brought to life?

What they weren’t expecting was a gentle hand to be placed against their cheeks. When they finally looked up, they saw Okoye kneeling in front of them, eyes bright with moisture. She gazed so deeply into them that it felt as if she saw into their damaged souls. “You’re not monsters,” she said, tracing her thumbs over their cheeks. “ _You’re miracles_.”

Neither of them could stop the tears once they started. They gripped each other’s hand so tightly they hurt. Okoye moved from holding their faces to a steady grip on their knees while Shuri and Ayo hugged them from the sides.

For the first time in seventy-one years, they cried for what had been done to them.


	21. Chapter 20

When Bucky woke, he felt utterly wrung out. He was all but lying on top of Steve and they were in one of the most comfortable beds Bucky had ever slept in. He had no idea where they were but they were alive and not chained up.

That was either a really good or really bad thing.

Doing his best not to wake Steve, Bucky sat up and looked around. He still didn’t know where they were. It looked like some sort of apartment or suite. It didn’t look like the kind of bland found in hotels and motels but it was still decorated in an impersonal way that screamed ‘no one lives here.’

Bucky glanced down to make sure he still had the same clothes on and that his suit cuffs were still there. Then he got up to check the door. If it was locked, then there was a much greater chance that they were being held prisoner somewhere. Even if the room seemed nice at first glance, that could just be a way to foster compliance.

He pulled the door open and saw someone standing there with an arm raised to knock. Before he could do more than start in surprise, Shuri had rushed into his arms and held on tight.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered into his chest. “I’m so sorry I made you feel like I would hate you if…” her breath hitched, “if you told me.”

Getting his act together, Bucky returned her hug. “We didn’t know. Who would ever trust us after finding that out? You made us feel like we had a family for the first time in—” Emotion rose in his chest that he couldn’t tamp down. He swallowed hard. “—in a really long time. We couldn’t risk that.”

“You’ve come to mean so much to us that we didn’t want to lose you.” Steve’s sleep-roughened voice came from the side and they looked over. He’d climbed out of bed and hesitantly stood a few feet away. Shuri started wriggling and, once set loose, ran to hug him, too.

_Where are we?_ Bucky asked.

_Wakanda. You were asleep so I carried you to bed._ Steve hesitated for a moment and then said, _T’Challa knows, Jerk. Shuri asked if she could tell him._

Bucky closed his eyes and forced his breaths to remain steady.


	22. Chapter 21

It felt like another miracle but T'Challa didn’t hate them either. He made sure to personally track them down and tell them that.

He also shared something with them. A secret for a secret, he’d said. He told them of his role as the Black Panther, his country’s foremost defender. The current incarnation of his suit was the same nanotechnology Steve, Bucky, and Shuri had developed. His suit just had a few extras because it was made for fighting where theirs was made for self-defense.

“Mine is also more cat-themed as opposed to your badass soldier,” he’d joked with a grin, mimicking cat ears with his fingers on top of his head.

T’Challa was called away soon after but, before making his goodbyes, he told them that Tony Stark wanted to talk to them.

“He is…persistent.”


	23. Chapter 22

‘Persistent’ was putting it mildly. And it turned out that ‘Tony Stark wants to talk to you’ really should have been ‘ _all_ the Avengers want to talk to you and won’t stop trying until they do.’

They walked into Shuri’s private lab and stopped short when they saw her standing in front of a giant holographic screen with five faces thrown into sharp relief. The only Avenger missing was Thor.

“Come on. You can’t protect them forever. We want to talk to Rogers and Barnes,” Tony Stark arrogantly demanded.

_They know who we are._ Steve and Bucky both thought it at the same time, frozen in place. Neither of them could keep the absolute terror from their mental voices.

“First of all, watch how you speak to me, Stark. I am Princess of Wakanda. Not to mention I’m smarter than you, richer than you, and I have better tech than you do. You have no leg to stand on so don’t try to order me to do anything. Secondly, I’m assuming you aren’t talking about that sweet old man who did those children’s shows in your country because I’m pretty sure he died more than a decade ago. And I’m not sure what Barnes you’re talking about. I understand that it’s a very common surname in your country? You’ll have to be more specific.”

_Look at that stone face. We’ve taught her well._ They had both calmed down enough by then to watch everything without outright panicking. Shuri was definitely going to bat for them.

“You know exactly who I’m talking about.” That time, Stark attempted to speak civilly. He failed, but at least there was an attempt.

Shuri just expertly raised an eyebrow. The sheer amount of condescension she displayed was pretty impressive for a just-barely-sixteen year old, especially considering she stared down an ego-ridden forty-two year old. “Why don’t you go ahead and spell it out for me.” Her voice subtly mocked him before it turned hard and flat. “Before I decide that you’re doing nothing more than wasting my time.”

“Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes!” Wilson cut in before Tony could make the situation any worse. “We’d like to speak to Captain Steve Rogers and Sergeant James Barnes. Please, Your Highness.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re dead. Like, since the Second World War. Good luck finding them, though. I hear you should try looking under a bridge in the Alps. At least, that’s where SHIELD—sorry, _HYDRA_ —was looking for their bodies.” It was a low blow and Barton and Wilson visibly winced. Romanov just blinked. Considering what they knew of her training, though, Bucky and Steve figured that was an elite-spy version of a flinch.

“Pardon me, but if I may…” A cultured-sounding British man spoke up from somewhere on the Avengers’ end.

“Yeah, go ahead, Jarvis.” So, the voice belonged to Stark’s A.I. Curious that a man without any apparent manners would create such a mannerly-sounding A.I.

“You, Princess Shuri, and your two guards exited Avengers Tower from a side exit with these two masked gentlemen.” He showed a picture captured from SI’s security footage of Shuri, Okoye, and Ayo with Bucky and Steve, still garbed in their suits, after leaving the Tower’s medical floor. “Twenty minutes later, your party was captured on camera exiting an alleyway onto Park Avenue in the company of these two gentlemen,”—he flashed a still of Bucky and Steve in their faded band t-shirts and thin black sweatpants that they’d worn to bed the night they’d been taken—“both of whom bear a striking resemblance to Captain Steven Grant Rogers and Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.” To finish everything off, he put a black and white picture taken from one of the Captain America movie reels during the war beside the previous one.

They cursed themselves for not following the Wakandans at a safe distance or splitting up and taking a different route to the jet entirely.

Knowing Shuri would ride the horse she’d chosen until it was long past dead, they decided to save her the trouble. For now, they would give the Avengers what they wanted. They would talk. For a brief moment, Steve and Bucky debated wearing their masks just to fuck with Stark but decided against it.

When they stepped into view of the holo-screen, no one said a word.

Shuri leaned comfortably against Steve’s side and slid her arm around his waist. He draped his easily over her shoulder.

Predictably, Tony Stark was the first to break the silence. “Getting a little cozy with the youngins there, aren’t you, Cap?”

Steve stopped his eyes from narrowing or rolling and, instead, tilted his head to the side, mimicking a curious puppy. “None of us knows what Wilson prefers to do in his free time. But if you really want to know, Mr. Stark, I suggest you ask him when you’re alone instead of calling him out in front of strangers. Is that all you called for?”

Beside him, Shuri managed to keep a straight face but gave a quiet little huff of breath. On the screen, there was the hint of a smile touching Banner’s mouth where, seconds before, he’d looked like he’d wanted to be anyplace but there. Steve could also feel Bucky’s amusement at his words paired with annoyance at Stark’s.

Wilson sent a disgruntled look to Stark. He started to say something but Stark didn’t let him. The man seemed to have a very abrasive personality. “Uh, no. Obviously I was talking about you. You seem awfully cozy with—”

Suddenly, Bucky was fed up. The Avengers were bothering his people and they were bothering him. “He’s not a captain and I’m not a sergeant. Now did you actually call for a reason or do you just enjoy bothering people?”

“Well, technically—” Stark started again.

“Hang up,” Steve ordered Shuri’s A.I. He pulled Shuri with them as he and Bucky started to turn away.

“Wait!” The shouted plea came from Wilson and made them pause. “We wanted—” This time, he interrupted himself. “I swear to Jarvis, Tony, either shut up or leave.” He turned back to the screen. “We just wanted to ask you some questions, if you don’t mind.”

Steve narrowed his eyes as they faced the hologram once again. “It depends on the questions.”

“And on who’s asking them,” Bucky added scowling, still annoyed.

Stark harrumphed but stayed silent. Romanov might’ve actually held a gun to his back because the man suddenly froze and then didn’t move, even to fidget.

“That was you, wasn’t it, two years ago when Loki attacked?” Wilson’s question sounded less like a question and more like a statement he wanted verified.

_Who’s Loki?_ Bucky quickly asked.

“What gave it away?” Steve asked sarcastically. “Was it the suits or was it the suits? It was the suits, wasn’t it?” _Another alien. Thor’s brother. Led the Chitauri during the invasion_ , he mentally answered.

“Man, why didn’t you tell us who you were? Why didn’t you stick around?” This time it was Barton who asked. And he actually sounded confused. Did he not know what just happened to them days before?

“Yeah, that would have worked out fantastic for us,” Bucky replied sarcastically. Then his voice rose mockingly, “Let’s just tell the SHIELD agents _all_ about us! We’ve only been doing _everything we can_ to stay off of SHIELD’s radar so we don’t—I don’t know— _get kidnapped_?”

Barton had to grace to look sheepish.

“Then why did you help?” Romanov demanded. Her face was blank but her voice was tight and hard. She apparently didn’t like that they kept bringing up SHIELD’s indiscretions.

_She’s in the wrong business if she doesn’t like being lied to_ , Bucky said.

Steve was grimly amused.

It was a few moments before Steve replied to her question, but eventually he said, “Because we were caught out in the middle of it and people were dying. We couldn’t just walk away, even with the risk to ourselves.”

“You could help others again.” Romanov said silkily. “You could join us and help a lot of people who are getting hurt. _Before_ they get hurt.” There was the tiniest hint of a self-satisfied smirk about her lips, nearly invisible.

Banner looked uneasy then. With his brows drawn down, he glanced between his teammates and the screen. He obviously recognized that she was trying to manipulate the bleeding hearts that history reputed Captain America and his Sergeant to be. Banner looked like he wasn’t really on board with that.

Shuri tightened her hold on Steve’s side when he tensed at Romanov’s words. “You want us to fight for you.”

“The world needs the Avengers, man,” Wilson said. But that wasn’t really an answer.

“The world has the Avengers.” ‘We’re looking at them,’ Bucky’s flat tone implied.

“Will you come and work with us?” Wilson asked flat-out, staring intently at them.

“In what capacity?”

Banner’s eyes widened at Bucky’s guarded question. He looked like he’d just figured something out.

Before anyone could answer in the obvious ‘by fighting with us,’ he spoke for the first time. “In any capacity you want, even if it’s just advising the Avengers through com units from a command center in Avengers Tower.

There was a long silence. All the other Avengers turned and glared at Banner. That obviously hadn’t been what they’d planned on proposing. But Banner just gave Steve and Bucky a small, almost sad smile. His eyes said that he understood what it was like to not want to fight.

“We’ll think about it,” Steve eventually said addressing Banner directly. “End the call please,” he told Griot.

“You were going to tell them no.” Shuri said quietly after a long moment.

“They were going to ask us to fight.”

There didn’t seem to be much to say after that so, after a silent minute, Shuri led them over to see in person the projects they’d been working on.


	24. Chapter 23

_You’re thinking about Banner’s offer._

It was later that night and Bucky watched as Steve kneaded bread dough on a spattering of flour scattered over a table in the palace kitchen.

_I am actually. You know I don’t want to fight anymore. I didn’t want to back then_ , Steve said, thinking about back when he first realized everyone wanted to use the monster he’d become. Bucky had been the only person who’d still wanted _Steve_.

_The alien invasion only reinforced that_ , he added after a moment.

_I know what you mean._ Bucky had been drafted. He hadn’t ever wanted to fight. And, after being rescued from Azzano, had only stayed because Steve had asked him to, because Steve had stayed.

Bucky came up behind and wrapped his arms around Steve’s waist. _But you’re thinking about helping without fighting._ He rested his chin on Steve’s shoulder and watched as Steve pressed the heel of his hand into the dough again and again, occasionally adding more flour.

_Yeah. Back then, Before_ —he didn’t need to specify that he meant before the serum— _it was about duty. I didn’t have any right not to do mine when others were laying down their lives. But After…_

Bucky knew. They’d talked about it before. The first time had been in 1945 when they’d decided to not to report back in to the military.

_It made me sick, what they expected me to do, what they wanted me to be. I did it, but I hated it. I don’t want to do that—to become that—again._

Bucky hugged Steve tight and kissed his neck. Steve automatically tilted his head to give him better access. At the same time, he set his bread dough into an oiled bowl to rise.

_You won’t._ We _won’t,_ Bucky told him. _I’ve been thinking about it, too. Give me some more time and we’ll decide together. No matter what, it’ll be together._

Steve turned around in Bucky’s arms and kissed him easily on the mouth, cupping Bucky’s face in his hands before pulling back with a smirk.

Bucky just sighed. “Really? Just gonna touch me with your greasy dough-hands and get my face all full of junk? Thanks.”

Steve laughed and turned back around to cover the bowl with a hand towel and set it aside.

“You’re lucky you’ve always been cute, you asshole.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. This is the end of part 1. As I said before, part 2 is finished but I won't be posting any of it for a while. At least not this year. We'll see how life and work go come January. 
> 
> Let me know what you think of this. The whole point of posting it was to try to get me motivated to finish (or at least start working on again) part 3. That, unfortunately, hasn't happened. We'll see what the future holds.


End file.
